Uma das primeiras produções do Dogma 95, manifesto assinado por Lars Von Trier e Thomas Vinterberg, que prega novas formas de criação e produção. Trier conta a história de um grupo de amigos que exercita a idiotia. Eles têm uma casa de campo como base para desenvolver seu interesse comum. Passam todo o tempo juntos explorando os mais secretos e menos apreciados valores da idiotia. Quem insere o espectador no grupo é uma mulher que encontra três deles quando estão fazendo uma performance em um restaurante. A princípio ela se irrita, mas em seguida começa a participar do estranho jogo, que culmina com um teste final: demonstrar a idiotice na frente da própria família. O filme causou polêmica pela cenas de sexo explícito.
Uma festa grandiosa para comemorar o sexagésimo aniversário desencadeia um drama familiar com todas as mentiras que escondem segredos horrendos. O filho mais velho, Christian, encena um confronto com as populares Pater famílias; o seu discurso provocador e comovente após o jantar desaloja todas as máscaras, que finalmente caem completamente à medida que o conflito pai-filho se intensifica e os convidados observam perplexos.
Andreas, um jovem padre viúvo, chega aos subúrbios de Copenhaga para substituir o pároco local. Jørgen Mortensen é um recepcionista de hotel com problemas amorosos que frequenta o curso de italiano. Olympia é uma rapariga charmosa, apesar de muito desajeitada, que sonha em inscrever-se no curso de italiano. Apaixona-se por Andreas e no funeral da mãe descobre que é irmã de Karen, uma cabeleireira que se apaixona por Finn, um empregado de mesa que se torna professor no curso de italiano depois de ser despedido. Giulia é uma italiana, colega de Finn no restaurante, e tem uma paixoneta por JØrgen Mortensen. O curso de italiano vai funcionar para estas personagens frágeis e solitárias como uma espécie de catalisador que as conduzirá ao encontro do amor, vivido à típica maneira italiana.
Kresten, newly wed, is on the threshold of a great career success in his father-in-law´s company. But when the death of his own father takes him back to his poverty-stricken childhood home, far out in the country, his career plans fall apart. For one thing he has to deal with his loveable, backward brother, who is now all alone; for another, he meets a stunning woman who comes to the farm as a housekeeper, in disguise of her real profession as a call-girl.
Undiagnosed, untreated and generally untethered schizophrenic Julien lives with his pregnant younger sister Pearl, would-be wrestler brother Chris, sympathetic grandmother, and severely depressed German father.
A story of a filmmaker who falls in love with a woman he interviews for his film. The film presents the evolution of a relationship which shifts from the objective to the subjective, and from lies to truth.
Kira and Mads try to work out their marriage, after Kira has been two years in a mental institution, but is she really ready for the real world?
Peter and Chris, two young American friends in their late 20s, go from South Dakota to California on a scooter, and as they travel across the American landscape they see their country through different eyes, ranging from Peter's cynically nihilistic point of view, to Chris' high expectations and romantic notions of the United States.
Stranded in the heat of a barren African desert, eleven bus-passengers shelter in the remnants of an abandoned town. As rescue grows more remote by the day and anxiety deepens, an idea emerges: why not stage a play. However the choice of King Lear only manages to plunge this disparate group of travelers into turmoil as they struggle to overcome both nature's wrath and their own morality.
A French woman falls in love with a Yugoslavian man, not realizing that he is an illegal immigrant.
P. is a little girl's imaginary friend who lives inside the wall of her room. But one day he magically materialises and so must learn to live in the world like everyone else - a world where he is met with suspicion and hate but also with wonder and love.
Two stories run on parallel lines in a nocturnal Rome. Marcello is an easygoing sixty-five-year-old film producer trying to convince a beautiful actress to accept a part in a film. The other protagonist is a group of petty criminals and illegal immigrants who pass the night stealing, taking drugs, having sex and drinking. Marcello talks about his experience working with Fellini and Mastroianni during the wonderful years of DOLCE VITA; this strongly contrasts the city experienced by the immigrants.
A bittersweet and heartfelt story about going back. In the twenty-four hours before their 20th high school reunion, five friends, a younger brother and a mysterious photojournalist are reunited by determined Mayor Margaret to remember the good times of 1981
Fabián, a magician from Buenos Aires, saves his money from weddings, birthdays, and bar mitzvahs, and uses a hidden camera to document a week-long trip to the Falkland Islands where he has a patriotic plan: to impregnate a British woman. If 500 Argies do this annually, the islands will soon be overrun with children belonging to both cultures.
A documentary crew enters a drama school in Brussels to examine the controversial method of one of its teachers: the Open Door method. The great atmosphere soon disappear as ill-feelings settle.
The entire extended family is happily on its way to a nostalgic Christmas at a rented cabin in the mountains. The cabin becomes cramped, however, when mom and dad and four grown-up children with their respective families, a dog and in-laws from Poland squeeze inside the frozen cabin walls in 30-below-zero weather.
In 1984, the former mayor of a small upstate New York town was found dead in his car with a young girl. In the aftermath, his wife and his adopted daughter have to make sense of this situation, while a detective from out of town tries to solve the case.
Story of a video camera that goes on an adventure around the world. It's stolen, pawned, bought and generally goes in and out of bedrooms, shoots commercials, follows the life of an average ordinary video camera that goes around the planet until it winds up in the hands of filmmaker Richard Martini. This film has been designated at Dogma #15 by the Danish film group Dogme95.
10 bad actors in a class room trying to become good actors.
For Sandra, a woman in her late teens, life is wonderful. She has recently fallen in love with Daniel, a member of the group of young men she hangs around with frequently. Daniel is flattered by Sandra's affection for him and they begin to spend more time together, apart from the rest of the gang. Their relationship remains diffuse and directionless, provoking tension and threatening to cause a schism within the group.